Process
The starting point
My creative process isn’t fixed, it’s instinctive and deeply visceral. I draw inspiration from many sources: nature, lived experiences, and personal memories often become the starting point for my work.
From there, I begin to shape a concept, selecting materials such as foliage, rope, or other plant fibres that feel appropriate. The choice is intuitive, it has to feel right in my hands.
As I’ve said, the process is guided by sensation; the materials need to enliven my senses and resonate physically as well as conceptually.
This process can be lengthy. Some ideas don’t fully resolve and remain as experimental samples, while others develop into large-scale works. Occasionally I sketch, but more often the piece evolves organically as I work. I frequently revisit and draw inspiration from previous samples, allowing past explorations to inform new directions.
Processing materials
My process is guided by the specific demands of each work, encompassing a range of material practices, from harvesting foliage to drying and retting plant matter for use as flexible weaving fibres, such as cordyline and rush. Alongside this, I prepare plant materials for natural dye processes, extending an ongoing dialogue between material, colour, and form.
Dyeing involves the careful boiling and soaking of foliage, often combined with mordants to achieve tonal complexity and depth. The extraction of colour is inherently unpredictable and generative; for example, I’ve found that loquat leaves can yield unexpectedly rich reddish-pink hues. This element of chance is central to my practice, allowing each piece to emerge through a process of discovery.
Each dye batch produces its own distinct palette of organic tones. As the dyed materials hang to dry, their subtle chromatic variations gradually reveal themselves, marking a quiet but significant moment of transformation. This sensitivity to colour feeds directly into my coiling work, where I shape naturally dyed fibres into tactile forms that reflect both material knowledge and an intuitive, responsive approach.
